Guild Wars 2

Clownmug.8357:

The only elites I really spent adequate time with were Weaver, Mirage, Renegade, and Spellbreaker. They were all fun to play once I properly learned their mechanics.

I think one of the reasons some players feel the PoF elites are underwhelming is because the skill floors are much higher than the HoT elites. It didn’t help that they also had to fight those HoT elites while learning, since there was no PvE test area.

With that in mind, I think making the PoF elites easier to play would be a good idea. Here are a few suggestions based on my experiences.

Weaver – Accessing offhand skills seemed to be a problem that a lot of players had. Unravel exists purely as a bandage solution to this issue, so like others have suggested I think Unravel should be converted to a fifth mechanic bar skill.

Mirage – Illusions need more durability to actually be able to use some of the new skills. The Mirage Mirrors should last longer, you can’t reach them in any natural way while you’re actively fighting.

Renegade – It’d be a lot easier to play if the utilities and mechanic bars skills didn’t use so much energy. Also I don’t like that the warband summons are vulnerable to cc, seems like unnecessary punishment when they cost so much to use.

Spellbreaker – Can’t think of anything, seems like it’s pretty good already. I’m disappointed though that the Dagger #2 skill doesn’t use ammo mechanics like Mirage’s Axe #2.

Oh man I could not agree more about the PvE thing. It was a huge mistake to have no PvE testing beds to get acquainted and/or duel with friends. The dueling in pvp is chaos and stats are entirely different. I suppose if you were savvy enough you could run up to the wvw centaur camp or hits some bristlebacks in the desert borderlands, but it needed more PvE testing. Luckily it will all be released soon and it was kind of anet to do this at all.

Well hopefully every listening dev wasnt chased away but if anyone is still reading.

I tried out spellbreaker, holosmith, deadeye, and soulbeast for many hours this weekend. I am immediately happy that some classes were not upgrades to HoT builds but rather, new options. Now I primarily play wvw and it is my firm belief that all professions should be able to have a successful role in the mode.

Soulbeast: As a longbow ranger I found soul beast to be far too melee-based without proper tools to remain ranged as well as druid. I do think the class is a nice option for condition shortbow rangers. I wasnt quite sure what its wvw role would be as other classes seem to have better melee skills and strength. Changing the new stance utilities to pulse more like a revenent might be more fun for a ranger who wishes to contribute to larger groups/zergs. Ranger has historically been relegated to roaming and does little group support in non-raid settings.

Spellbreaker: An amazing rock to the paper and scissors of the condi vs power struggle. This class fits an entirely new and interesting role. I was impressed with its elegant and effective melee style. We desperately needed a counter to the condi creep meta and I think this build along with rev aiding in group resistence will help make a nice balance. Every profession and build should have its natural counters and some builds have become far too little risk for high reward. Spellbreaker helps shake things up in a good way.

Deadeye: Now this build was one I was looking forward to the most. Afterall rifles and pistols ate rarely used and seen. At first everything could gank me and I had to rely on larger groups to help me buy time. Eventually I stumbled onto the build that everyone found (apart from the condition/steal build haha). It requires you to take as much stealth and escape measures as humanly possible but lets you throw off massive single target damage in 2-5 shots. It was a lot of fun after the learning curve. However this build is not one that can quickly react to change its course of damage and has little to save itself in melee danger. Your best evade costs 5 initiative and therefore is never there to use after a burst. I was kind of hoping for a more fast paced alternative to the build to step right into the fight but its risky. I suppose better players could do it. Ultimately it’s a one-task pony, but it has its fun.

Holosmith: Holy nerfhammer threats batman. Im afraid holosmith might suffer the same fate as scrapper and start off super powerful, then get nerfed to the ground from complaints. You have a high powered and fast paced array of instant death at your hands. I heard some condition bursts exceeded absurd levels of damage for people experimenting. Now I was a rifle engi for a long while. Rifle was never updated to the new strength-creep of the modern metas in wvw. Recent changes to explosives and tools speclines have made a world of difference and I find myself contributing as the cc-maniac again in groups. It’s somewhat viable again allthough I think base damage for rifle 1 needs to be revisited as well as some kind of stability for engis best dps on rifle 5. But man, when I added holosmith it definitely felt like if my mediocre bs wasnt working i could just turn on the forge and wreck anything with complete button smashing ease. Now I found it has a weakness if you focus its minimal stab. So at least it has some counters but something about the complexity of it feels lacking. It’s a lot like mashing buttons in reapers shroud. It felt like a rotational bite was missing.

other builds i observed: I noticed scourge shielding in conjuction with ele healing made for indestructible combos in wvw. Not quite sure what all the contributing effects were but these groups could completely negate any glass damage or focused damage.

Anyway it was exciting as it was overwhelming. I’m no expert but this is my feedback so far.

For wvw roaming, not many ranger builds beat druid staff for its cc, heals, mobility, and evades. As a power-based LB, I don’t find the stats worth dropping druid for. I suppose you can run it with melee condi, but I think that is already better implemented with druid builds that have been around beforehand. Things like rooting and natural stride are just too far valuable in the competitive domain. Soulbeast leaves you floundering with your rotation long enough to be killed in melee if you like LB. I suppose if you like LB as a way to open up dps and then predominately move to melee for damage, then soulbeast is more for you. If LB is your favorite main weapon, then your evades to maintain 1200-1500 distance are lacking.

cafard.8953:

Well, I guess I’m one of the rare people enjoying it. It’s just more of the ranger I love. Same jack of all trades, with a fair few additional tools and combos on demand. It’s fun to play, and doesn’t feel completely unrelated like the final Druid design felt to me. Don’t care much for the dagger or even the stances, but the beast skills and pet traits affecting the ranger while merged are enough to make me a happy bunny. I’m just waiting for the inevitable gutting before seeing the final state ot it all since some skills/pets are obviously overtuned and Anet doesn’t generally do half-measures…

Despite my constructive criticism I must state that I am also enjoying soulbeast to a fair degree, but im doing some weird stuff. I think a few quality of life changes would make a big difference for the class. Some people are frustrated that ranger still does not serve a standard boon-circle zerg role for wvw. I’ve seen the suggestion mentioned before, but having the stances have a pulsing effect much like the way glint reve utilities work would give it that role. It would be a major mechanic change, but zerglings and fight guilds might like that. As for me, I will always roam, so ranger fits that small group composition well. Might not be a great 1v1 class like staff druid in some settings, but its LB pressure is quite strong with soulbeast traits. Also I think these builds should take more than a day to master. Hopefully between balancing and practice it hits its groove. I’m kind of relieved all the new elites didnt just blot out older builds like HoT did. Viability remains for many older classes from what I see.

Ider.1276:

Durzlla.6295:

I’d imagine that Soulbeast could be pretty good at tanking, not to mention it brings a lot of support without sacrificng all of its damage like druid does.

Tanking in PvE is monopolised by chrono. Soulbeast has nothing to keep up with countless chrono’s evades, mass distortions and blocks. Not to mention the only unique thing soulbeast can bring to the party are stanses, and they are currently meh.

Considering soulbeast’s role… I don’t know. It should be a DPS e-spec, but so far it looks very weak even compaired to the nerfed core condi. If nothing changes rangers will be taking soulbeast over beastmastery just because of the traits, ignore the dagger, ignore the beastmode and just dps with the pet out.

Ranger was my first and arguably my main (though I play everything in wvw). I must confess I am already guilty of just stat grabbing soulbeast for the dps and ignoring everything else. I go into beat mode for mobility, heals, and saving myself from getting downed; that’s about it. Kinda missing that staff 3 though.

Awesome about the gazelle, can’t wait to get it in wvw. Hopefully they fix the bird swoop distance. We could really use that.

Eponet.4829:

The bird beastmode skill Swoop moves a much shorter distance than the 1,200 range that is listed on the tool-tip.

Just made a thread on our forward mobility. It would be awesome if we had something other than greatsword 3 to propel us forward. 1200 distance would be amazing, hell, even 600 haha

Just curious what you guys are doing (apart from swiftness) to get those forward leaps and mobility? Greatsword 3 is an obvious one and I found that some of the pets when you are fused with them have it (ie – birds have a small OOC leap). Those of us spoiled by the glory of ancestral grace kind of need a decent substitute if we arent using greatsword. Ranger has some great evade and backwards tricks but when someone is chasing you down in pvp or wvw you always get caught up to without a decent charge/leap. Thoughts?

base damage of rifle 1 could stand to be higher in competitive environments

i sent you a pm for a fun build. it takes advantage of every new trait/utility change anet gave us. it’s not in the metabuild sites but its great fun. if you do wvw try running with some friends while you get used to it

i can outrun some thieves with my build if you want it

oh also had to add this, if you want a bit of fun ill give you a hint: slick+rocket boots. You might notice something when you charge at enemies mwahahahaha >:)

I can now confirm its amazing for rifle builds if you know what you are doing. I’m eccstatic to have my favorite weapon and class back in wvw.

IKR?!?!? god if they take this away from us after experiencing this im mega-altF4ing. It’s just too cool.

Thank you so much for the changes to engineer. I haven’t been able to play rifle engineer effectively in quite awhile. I absolutely love that you guys are reviewing older traits and utilities. Engi REALLY needed it. It has inspired me to invest and play more again.

Longtime rifle engi here. I gave it up for a long time, but out of curiousity a friend of mine has been running it today. Going zerker while boosting up your precision a lot helps so far or using marauders (if you already had it set up). Using rifle with 3 gyros, rocket boots, and the fixed traits (explosives, tools, scrapper). The rapid regen sustains nicely still especially with the added rocket boots that give you the superspeed (which in turn gives you the rapid regen). They were doing rifle 5 for 8000+ damage. You definitely need to make sure you got that stab before you try it though. I was even thinking about dropping a gyro for the new oil slick utility now that it cripples. All around a much more kitey rifle build again so might be fun? I haven’t got home to put my efforts into it yet but I definitely am going to.

bravo, communicated very well despite your declaration of being enraged while writing it. i wish everything you said was taken into consideration but does anet ever take these things into consideration? i sure hope they do.

man it would be silly if anet didnt update old traits because they were afraid no one would buy new content. i would never say no to well crafted new content and fighting styles. if anything having more success in builds makes me want to try new ones even more.

anyone who has played engi for a long time knows that rifle needs some SERIOUS love and as one of the few classes that even gets to use rifle, its a total waste.

As someone who played rifle engi for a year, i officially retired it because it simply is not viable anymore. At your absolute best in wvw you can beat offguaurd intermediate players or get lucky. Your best dps (rifle 5) is easily cc’d and stopped and any other damage you do with rifle is weak. As a cc it was nice in earlier metas when people didnt have so much stab and stunbreak on every uility they had. a few gimicks help like blasting quickness or putting incendiary ammo on hybrid builds. ultimately though i miss my favorite weapon on my favorite class and ive tried it all, believe me. my hope would be that holosmith aids in making it more viable again. however with rifle base dps so garbage i dont thing engi will ever go in the direction i would like. long live deadeye lol.

I see absolutely no reason to use the wvw system to craft right now. You save lots of gold by crafting regularly. There a few posts of people who have done the math on it.

I would not mind just seeing how it would go if canons did more damage to siege and far less to players.

Any rumors on wvw ever getting separate stats (not PvE stats)? I think it might determine whether I want to even continue playing wvw.

I have spent a lot of gold trying every possible combination to get engi rifle to be as fun as it used to be. You can get a mediocre build at best, but it’s not competitive. Engi gets so few weapons and hardly any classes get rifle. I don’t understand why this weapon has not been improved.